Hi
I visited my local LFS today in order to glean info whilst snooping at their Marine Pro setups - though they are runnning at a hugely larger capacity than what I intend - thankfully they know me well

It was mentioned, that seeming that I have no immediate ambition in setting up a 'pure' coral reef biotope - that it may be feasible for me to run a sumpless & continuous inboard flow system with a skimmer & additional powerheads -whilst the LR will act as the Bio filtration - I have noticed one of their tanks that has been running for several years setup like this with no detrimental problems- any thoughts on this guys??

This would obviously 'free-up' cash to spend on other things?

Now the other thing is, is that I was advised it would be better not to house my intended marine tank in my conservatory (really it is a block extension with a tinted/clear perspex roof - no sunlight hits the tank), and that I should possibly move my intended marine tank into my lounge & put my FW trops into the conservatory instead.